1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a volume management technology for storage area networks, which enables delaying the execution of run commands at the request of the user and even canceling the run commands after their execution at the request of the user.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, corporations have seen the increase in the amount of data that need to be managed with the proliferation of information technology, including the Internet. While conventional methods involves managing storage areas directly connected to the host computer, the recent trend has been to create a dedicated storage area network to independently control the storage from the host computer due to the demand for larger capacity and reliability.
In a storage network environment, in order to allocate volumes between the host and the storages, it is necessary to perform a process to create logical volumes within the storage, a process to allocate paths between the host and the storage, a volume recognition process and an initialization process by the host. The term “volume” means a data storage area that is opened by the storage and created within the logical volume, and made accessible from the host. Also, the term “logical volume” means a data storage area created within the storage apparatus and opened to the host.
Run commands in the storage network have become increasingly complex compared to the conventional storage configuration that is directly connected to the host, and is expected to become even more complex due to the increase in the number of paths as the storage capacity and the number of hosts comprising the storage area network increases.
In a storage network environment, many run commands for executing volume allocation and deletion are often directly executed on the hardware. Frequently, the original state cannot be restored once the commands are executed. Also, as explained above, the run commands for storage area network have become complicated because of the increase in the storage capacity and the number of hosts that comprise the storage area network. Because of this, corporations could suffer serious losses due to errors made by users. For example, there may be occasions when the user may erroneously delete the important data storage area when changing the configuration of the system.
Because of this type of situation, it is necessary to have a function to restore the status to the point prior to the commencement of the run command at the request of the user to manage the volume in a storage network environment. One method has been proposed to manage compatibility between the run commands and the state of the system in an environment that collectively control the run commands for the system. However, the conventional art does not describe a technique that collectively execute plural run commands for the server, switches and storages as in the case of volume control in a storage network environment.